1. Technical Field
The invention relates to cameras, particularly to depth cameras.
2. Related Art
A depth camera can be used to control a computer through a gesture. Moreover, a depth camera can be further used to control a TV game through a body motion. This makes human-machine interaction more intuitive.
Such human-machine interaction needs a depth camera which can store a three-dimensional image into a two-dimensional format. A depth camera can measure a Z-axis distance between every shot point and the camera so that it can record three-dimensional image data.
A common method for measuring the Z-axis distance is to use the principle of time of flight (TOF). Simply speaking, a time period from a light beam emitted by a light source to be reflected by a shot point to come back to the origin can be used to calculate the Z-axis distance.
Therefore, the light source is an essential element of the TOF principle. A conventional TOF depth camera is provided with multiple light sources. To ensure the light beams from the light sources are absolutely parallel, each light source is further provided with a reflector. However, the reflectors are separate parts which must be individually installed over the light sources. Such installation always makes the light beams deflective, and finally, the distance measurement will be inaccurate.